dances with muses: the artistry of nicole jobin
by julie savage parker

"If music be the food of love, play on." Twelfth Night (I,i), William Shakespeare
It is the confluence of music, food, and love that feeds the spirit of Nicole Jobin. It is her music and her food, both infused with love, that together feed the bodies and the spirits of those who sit at her table.

Is this the love that means romance? Mais oui. As we sit by the window at Stoney Knob Café in Weaverville talking about how she became "the singing chef", I notice a couple at a table in front of the fireplace who are clearly in love—clearly a love that has aged like fine wine—and I ask Nicole if she would sing for them. She agrees with enthusiasm and we introduce ourselves to Dave and Maggie Zurbrick of Burnsville, married 53 years. From her heart, from her very soul flows Edith Piaf's La Vie en Rose. A mezzo soprano, she embraces the melody with both tenderness and passion. All of us are caught in the moment. Even Nicole's speaking voice is music to the Francophile ear. Maggie's grandfather came from Burgundy through Canada to help settle St. Augustine in Florida. Nicole came from Quebec City, settled herself in Miami for a couple of decades where she perfected her craft before settling herself in these mountains. Nous sommes sympathique à çe moment.

But the love that is the source, course, and goal of Nicole's life is also the love that is joie de vivre, the love of Nature, the love of Spirit, and a maturing love of self. Une femme d'un certain age, Nicole Jobin is at that point in her life when all things flow together, when food and love and life and music and the giant maple tree in her front yard and the pure joy of being alive all intertwine in one sweet song. And it is the time when we finally realize it is not only okay, but essential to give the same love to ourselves we have always given to others.
"There comes a time, " she says, "as you grow older, if you do not express yourself, you die slowly inside." One of the muses she dances with is visual art: she is an a abstract painter. Questioned once by a friend if abstract art was "the easy way out", she answered "I don't know. My work may mean nothing to someone else, but if it is meaningful to me, that is what counts. Even if I don't fully know the 'meaning' myself!" She holds life in an open hand. "Right now I just give my work away. I may change my mind at some point. My work might float around and end up in a thrift shop...that is okay. I create to feed my own soul."
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

On being a woman:
"We are significant, women as a whole. I used to dismiss myself, to minimize myself. I thought I had to validate myself. I know now I am enough, I have enough."
Living less than a year in Western North Carolina, Nicole is looking forward to building friendships with other women. "Connecting with other women is where I find my strength. At the same time I am coming from a place of strength myself."
On her dream:

"I will share my dream with you," she confides, leaning forward, and begins to tell me of her dream to weave cooking classes and singing and her own joie de vivre, no doubt. She'd like to provide a day of food and music and pleasant company, and cooking classes too for children. she dreams of a venue for this falling into place. "If it is God's will, it will happen." Even her dreams she holds with an open hand.
After Dave and Maggie have gone and our interview is about at an end, I ask her for an encore. I ask for La Vie en Rose, encore une fois. She obliges, and again I am transported to a place where the heart reigns.

Then the imp comes out to play, and she ends with a Hip Hop version of La Vie en Rose. Play on, Mme. Jobin, play on!
[ See Nicole in her kitchen on page 33.]
Julie Savage Parker, along with Sandi Tomlin-Sutker, is publisher/editor of WNC WOMAN. She 'wants you should pardon her French', but it is late, this file is due at the printer, and she did her best. If she erred (is it de riguer? de rigeur? Hmm...) all she can say is, "C'est la vie!"

I ask to see the kitchen and to learn how she begins the day. (She comes in at two and works 'til closing.) Nicole quite literally begins with rolling up her sleeves. Well, the obligatory handwashing of course, but then she rolls up her sleeves and unpacks her knives. I learn that using your own knives is de rigeur for un vrai chef.
Nicole checks in with Yotty (brothers Yotty and John Dermas own Stoney Knob Café) to see what he's found fresh and wonderful at the market.